Criminal Crawley and Horsham Convicted Again

On 25th February this year hunt saboteurs attended a meet of Britain's most convicted hunt, the Crawley and Horsham foxhounds. Press from the Huffington Post were also present.

Sabs were subject to abuse and assaults through out the day. One was arrested on a trumped up allegation of assault, which was later changed to Aggravated Trespass. The subsequent trial collapsed due to there being no evidence! Another sab was kicked in the face by a rider, but the police took no action.

After a long and difficult day due to extreme weather and swollen streams, a group of three sabs found Huntsman and Master Kim Richardson gathering hounds in the woods. Richardson approached and threatened to ram his hunting horn down a sab's throat. After Richardson threatened the sabs they retreated into the woods and dialled 999 as they were heavily outnumbered. No police attended following the emergency call, but the video of the incident was released on the Huffington Post and Richardson was subsequently interviewed.

After the voluntary interview, he was reported for an offence under Section 4a of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act as he had admitted threatening the sab, but he then pleaded not guilty and went to trial.

Today Richardson appeared at Horsham Magistrates Court in front of a district Judge. The defence tried, unsuccessfully to smear the character of the hunt saboteur. Both Richardson and his 'countryman' (Terrier boy) witness crumbled under cross examination, and Richardson was duly convicted of causing Alarm, Harassment and Distress. He was fined £2500 with £625 costs and a £130 victim surcharge.

Lee Moon, spokesperson for the Hunt Saboteurs Association, stated: “The sabs involved in the case would like to thank Sussex Police, the CPS and the District Judge for bringing Richardson, who has a long history of assaulting sabs, to justice at last. We wonder however if they would have been quite so keen if footage of the threats had not already been made public in the media. The Crawley and Horsham hunt are clearly a criminal enterprise, having been convicted multiple times for illegal hunting and assaults. It's about time the police looked at closing them down permanently, as they would other criminal gangs who exist purely to break the law.”